


Character Studies: Shamballa Equivalents

by xslytherclawx



Series: Shamballa 'verse [5]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Multi, Weimar Germany, Weimar Republic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-21
Updated: 2013-07-16
Packaged: 2017-12-15 13:33:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/850111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>character studies and oneshots about the "real world" equivalents of several FMA characters.</p><p>Each chapter focuses on one character.<br/>Right now, it's just alter!Winry, a sort-of alter!Roy, and alter!Roy proper (you'll see), but I'm working on alter!Riza, alter!Ed, alter!Russell, and some other characters who are very loose equivalents (and some originals) who may pop up in works I place in Weimar Munich.</p><p>Please do keep in mind that <b>the alters are not the same character as their FMA counterpart</b>. Alfons isn't just like Alphonse, so why would alternate Winry be identical to Winry Rockbell?</p><p>This ties in with <i>We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed</i> and <i>Was fühl ich in mir?</i> in the same series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wilhelmine Raskoph (Alternate Winry Rockbell)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed](https://archiveofourown.org/works/821147) by [xslytherclawx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx). 
  * Inspired by [Was fühl ich in mir?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/853224) by [xslytherclawx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx). 



> I'm going to have general glossary notes at the beginning of each chapter, and terms may overlap.
> 
> I've done a _lot_ of research on Germany, including Weimar Germany. (I even made a guide for writing for Shamballa [here](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1YYw8jij9ZU5B-f0DDvrjCNRQFtEKPurCxLvU68jeZnc/edit?usp=sharing)). I'm essentially a German history major (my school works so that it's history/German languages and literature), I'm VP of my school's German club, and I am on very good terms with two native Germans.  
>  However, I am American, not German, and I have yet to go to Germany, and I am thus capable of making mistakes on the cultural contexts of the Weimar Republic and also on the state of certain cities or boroughs.  
> My information is always double-checked with the German wiki, and I try to keep to areas that have descriptions of what they were like _at that time_
> 
> Still. I'm human. I can make mistakes, and if I do, please let me know in a comment.  
> (although _yes_ , I know, it'd be harder for a woman to become a doctor in Weimar Germany _that's the point_ )

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter focuses on alternate Winry Rockbell, who I have called Wilhelmine Raskoph. Again, this ties in with WAB,WAD so if you've read that you should be familiar with her.
> 
> This spans from Wilhelmine's birth in 1905 to somewhere in 1934. I didn't deal with Hitler's rise to power because, frankly, this would not have been of much concern to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please do note! Oberth was not writing about rockets until 1922 at the earliest, but as this is an integral part of Alfons's characterisation, I am overlooking this and going with the film's canon here.
> 
> other fun notes:  
> -if I remember correctly, only one spouse in the Weimar Republic was legally able to work after the civil marriage had been filed.  
> -Junkers are German nobility who lost their political power (well, formally) with the Treaty of Versailles. In Weimar Germany, they were one of the few groups who'd be able to afford luxuries like cars and eating out regularly.  
> -Graf is the German term for "Count"; after Versailles, it proceeded the surname (Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, for example); still is today. However, if a person died before 1919, the title was used first.  
> -Gräfin is the feminine form (so. "countess").  
> -Abitur: the end of school exam for Germany; sort of like the British A-levels? Determines whether or not you can get into university or not  
> -Gymnasium/Realgymnasium/Oberrealschule: types of secondary school. the first focuses on liberal arts and classical languages; second on science, math, latin, and modern languages; third on science, math and modern languages. All allow university qualification.  
> -state exams: some disciplines (law, medicine, and teaching are the ones that i know for sure) require a certain study period (6-10 semesters for teaching, 10-12 semesters for law, and 13 recommended semesters for medicine) and then a state exam (apparently law is the hardest?), two years of practical experience in the field, and then another state exam to finally be able to practise.
> 
> Wilhelmine has very similar facial features to Winry, but she is a bit darker. Her hair is a darker, golden blonde, and her eyes are a light brown. This is, in some ways, a parallel with the differences between Alfons and Alphonse (Alfons having light blonde hair and light blue eyes, Alphonse having light brown hair and darker, greenish eyes).

Wilhelmine Raskoph was born the only daughter of a doctor and a nurse. Before she was even born, her parents worked for the Heiderich family – her mother the nurse for their son, and her father the family doctor. She came along, in 1905, and fortunately for her mother, it was nearly a year before the youngest Heiderich boy, named Alfons, was born.

Despite being ranked nobility, Alfons took rather quickly to Wilhelmine. She was bright and friendly – and, to be honest, there weren't very many children at the Heiderich estate. It wasn't exactly socially acceptable – but Alfons had only been eight when his father had gone to war. A Junker's son befriending his nurse's daughter was hardly the worst thing that happened in noble households, and Graf Heiderich was much more liberal than most Junkers.

But then Graf Heiderich didn't come back... but he wasn't the only one. In addition to all of the other fallen German soldiers (why were there so many deaths when Germany was supposed to have been winning?), Wilhelmine's father hadn't come back.

Her mother had received word that Ulrich Raskoph had died on the Front. They were unable to ship his body back to Germany. Wilhelmine had only been ten, but she'd understood what had happened. The War had taken away her father; how could she not understand?

If only that had been the worst of it.

No, the War had ended with heavy losses for all sides – and none felt it quite so harshly as the Heiderich household, or so Wilhelmine thought at the time – and even though Germany was in shambles and the government had been turned on its head (the Treaty of Versailles, Wilhelmine thought, had absurdly harsh conditions when Germany had been the _third ones in_ on the war, and had had _no_ hand in starting it!), she still had her mother. Alfons was there, too, of course, although he'd been a bit ill.

Eduard, Alfons's elder brother, had taken it upon himself to get a cure. Germany was not the place to be for any aid, anyway, so Eduard took some money and left, promising to return.

Of course, he never did. 

That could have well been the worst of it. Eduard was older, and reckless, and he was probably terrified of staying back and being sent off to a military school for officer training to go on the Front. He wasn't that far off from actually _being_ on the Front, anyway.

However, the tragedies continued. 

1919 was the year of the Spanish Influenza. Wilhelmine had been affected, but she'd recovered fairly quickly. Gräfin Heiderich, who had been absolutely heartbroken over her eldest son's disappearance, fell ill, and everyone in the household – including the Gräfin herself – knew that she wouldn't make it through. Preparations were made in her last days; Alfons would go to live with his uncle in Munich and attend an Oberrealschule there.

Wilhelmine began to believe that she and her mother would be fine, but then her mother caught the influenza from Gräfin Heiderich. Sara Raskoph – young, strong, and healthy – died three days before the countess, leaving Wilhelmine with nowhere to go.

With what happened next, Wilhelmine was sure that she would be in Alfons Heiderich's debt for life: the boy had absolutely refused to leave the estate without her.

She was eternally grateful, but more than a bit embarrassed. She promised Alfons's uncle, Moritz (Torsten Walther) Graf Heiderich, that she could take care of herself, and would help the maids with their work.

Moritz Graf Heiderich would have none of it, however. He insisted on putting the girl into a Gymnasium – she was smart enough to deserve a chance for a university education, at any rate. Wilhelmine had asked nervously if perhaps she might try for the Realgymnasium, as she wanted to be a doctor, and the curriculum at a Realgymnasium would better prepare her for university. The count had agreed, on the natural condition that she could pass the entrance exam for the Realgymnasium, which she had.

Wilhelmine and Alfons both worked very hard in their respective schools, and Alfons even managed to push himself through two years early. He wanted to study rockets in Romania, he'd explained. Wilhelmine didn't understand why, and she didn't want him to go. Not only was he her only tie to happier times, but somewhere along the line, she'd developed a slight... romantic affection for him. 

This was not a joyful revelation for the girl, when it came; on the contrary, Alfons was the son of a count, and Wilhelmine's background was thoroughly common. Even though the Kaiserreich was officially over, she knew that the aristocracy wouldn't take kindly to a count's son getting involved with a common girl. 

She never meant to tell him, but it slipped out the night before he was due to leave. Alfons had been rather surprised, but he hadn't minded at all. On the contrary, he'd told her solemnly that he found her rather pretty. He found her big brown eyes especially enchanting, he said, and he liked the dark golden colour of her hair, but his favourite thing about her was how she lit up all over when medicine or biology was brought up in conversation. On impulse, she'd kissed him... and had been shocked when he'd kissed her back.

It hadn't gone beyond a few sloppy kisses before he left – and, of course, knowing that he felt the same way only made everything worse. However... Wilhelmine had better things to than to pine hopelessly over a boy with whom she knew she could never have any real future. Instead, she focused all of her energy on her studies.

The boys in her classes could be quite insufferable – unable to cope with the idea of a girl being as smart as they were – and so she did make a point to show them up on exams, although she kept to herself in class, as she'd learned long ago that showing them up there would only make her angry enough to get herself into trouble. So she focused her energy on her studies – she made herself learn everything that she could, and maintain good marks in the process – and, by the time Alfons came back, she was top of her class.

As she attended a boys' school, she didn't have the typical ways to meet other girls her age. She was friendly toward the servants, although the maids often refused to speak to her at length, feeling that it wasn't their place. Alfons's aunt had friends who had children around Wilhelmine's own age, but these girls were Junkers' daughters, who were more preoccupied with finding a nice but ranked man to marry them than getting into university. Not that Wilhelmine could entirely blame the girls, of course. At their rank, parents played quite a role, and one would have to hope to find someone who was both of good rank and a kind person to have any potential for future happiness.

The entire ordeal struck Wilhelmine as distasteful, and that wasn't just because she noticed that these girls found Alfons quite enchanting. She could never imagine having parents attempt to pick the person with whom she was due to spend the rest of her life. There were so many variables that one could not account for at that level – chemistry chief among them.

Still, Wilhelmine was on good terms with a few boys in her class, who were more concerned with asking her to help them study than making fun of her for being intelligent. She didn't charge for these tutoring sessions, but instead made sure that they would be in his parents' best room, accompanied by at least one other person. It was at one of these sessions where she met Sascha Voß.

Sascha was the twin sister of one of the boys in Wilhelmine's class. She was attending the girls' Gymnasium in Haidhausen, and was fairly surprised at Wilhelmine's interest in science. After all, science was generally considered unladylike, and Wilhelmine – who looked the image of a proper lady, with her hair pinned up, skirts at a proper length, and always with a corsetlet – did not seem to Sascha like the type of girl to be interested in science.

The two started talking about their favourite novels – Sascha was a literature enthusiast, and Wilhelmine always read novels to help herself go to sleep – and after a while, began meeting up with each other after classes. Sascha was rather quiet and shy, which wasn't an issue for Wilhelmine, who could chatter on for hours. The two worked well together, and Sascha was great company for Wilhelmine while Alfons was in Romania, and even later.

Alfons came back a year later, and decided to rent an apartment in Haidhausen with another young man who he'd met while studying in Romania. He told Wilhelmine that he'd offer to let her stay with him, but that wouldn't be proper. However, he made it clear that she was welcome any time that she was nearby or wanted to see him.

And see him she did.

The first few times she came over, they only talked. They were still friends, after all, and the conversation flowed easily. They would sit in the best room, and he would talk about rockets and how they were the technology of the future, and she would discuss her classes and ponder aloud how difficult it would be to become a doctor – she knew she would have a harder time of it, because she was a woman, and the belief was still held by most people (especially in conservative Munich) that women couldn't be as good at science or medicine as men. 

It was only the fourth or fifth time that she came over to see him that they kissed again.

It was the ninth time that she came over that they went any farther than that.

If they were honest, neither of them really knew what they were doing. Wilhelmine had only kissed one other boy and had gotten no more intimate than that; Alfons had been too focused on his studies to try to do anything with a girl. In his bedroom, clothes came off, but once they had, they both stopped, absolutely clueless. There had been some awkward prodding and they had tried to show the other what felt _good_ when they were alone in their rooms at night, but to no avail. They'd eventually settled for just kissing on his bed, clothes on the floor. This, at least, they knew how to do.

Wilhelmine left, slightly uncomfortable and rather unsatisfied, and didn't return for over a week.

They had, eventually, gotten down to it. It had been the single most awkward experience either of them had ever had, and Wilhelmine had had to walk Alfons through what he ought to do the entire time they were in bed together, and it didn't last very long at all when they got down to it, but Wilhelmine was sure that she would not have rather done it with anyone else.

It became something of a hobby for them, which only faltered when Alfons's cold lingered. Wilhelmine, the daughter of a doctor and a nurse, convinced him to go to the doctor, and, when he returned with an inconclusive diagnoses, found herself frustrated. So she attempted to diagnose him herself. Having read every medical book that she could get her hands on, Wilhelmine didn't think that this would be a difficult task; she dismissed the doctor Alfons had gone to as old and doddering. However, she could find nothing.

He seemed fine, but no cold should last so long.

Still, she had no idea what was wrong, so they resumed their typical activities.

It was something of a stress reliever for both of them; Alfons, working on his rockets day and night, and Wilhelmine getting ready to sit her Abitur... they needed some stress relief.

Of course, it would be ridiculous to write what they were doing off as pure stress relief; between Alfons's return to Munich and the first time they were alone together in his bedroom in Haidhausen, they had confessed their affections for the other in full. Wilhelmine knew that she was in love with Alfons, and Alfons was fairly certain that he felt the same way. 

This realisation, however, only made everything much more upsetting. They both knew that they could not marry the other based on their respective social classes, and Alfons's illness was a source of great concern for both of them. Who knew if this was something from which he could recover?

Still, they continued.

Wilhelmine passed her Abitur with excellent marks, and was able to enrol in the medical program at Ludwig Maximilians. Slightly uncomfortable with the idea of staying with Alfons's aunt and uncle for the entire thirteen-semester period, Wilhelmine found a place to stay with Sascha Voß. Her brother, Max, had gone to Nuremberg for university, so they had a free room, which Wilhelmine rented for the difference in groceries, as well as helping out around the house.

She was doing fairly well in her courses when the Beer Hall Putsch occurred. Wilhelmine, a liberal, was not overly fond of Nazi ideology to begin with, and she was glad that they'd failed.

However, something much more personally distressing had happened that night.

She had never expected to marry Alfons, of course. They'd continue their “stress relief” until one or both of them found someone (or Alfons succumbed to his illness, but Wilhelmine did not like to entertain this possibility), and then they'd end it before they married someone of their own social class. They'd continue to be friends, of course, which would doubtlessly be painful... but better Alfons in her life as a friend, both of them married to someone else, than not at all. 

The news of his death was thus all the more disturbing. Shot in the back by a Nazi. Wilhelmine hadn't liked him working for supremacists, but she imagined that the worst thing that would happen to him was a slowly changing ideology... not murder.

She went to his funeral; staying near the back of the crowd, almost none of whom she recognised. She hadn't really expected so many people to show up; Alfons was a Junker's son, and he was certainly kind and friendly, but the crowd was still much larger than she'd expected.

Her grades suffered that semester, but it couldn't really be helped. She'd managed not to fail anything, which she found rather remarkable. At the end of the semester in February, she was sure that she didn't remember a single thing she'd learned.

In time, she managed to cope. Life went on, and although she still missed Alfons every day, she knew that there was really nothing she could have done. Although she'd gotten off to a rocky start, her grades had picked up, and, by the end of her fourth semester, she was well on her way to being the top of her class. She made sure to spend some time with friends – at this point, it was really only Sascha who she spent a considerable amount of time with.

In the middle of her fifth semester, a chemistry student by the name of Rudi Tritten asked if she wouldn't mind going to the cinema sometime.

She'd met Rudi in her second semester but hadn't thought much of him. He was rather handsome, to be sure; tall, with medium ash blonde hair and grey eyes. He was also intelligent and driven... but he'd blended in with everyone else in her class. It didn't help his case any that she had been still, in part, coping with Alfons's death. She certainly hadn't been ready to date anyone else yet.

But Rudi was nice. He understood, not exactly, but he _had_ lost his mother to the Influenza, and he knew what losing a loved one felt like. He didn't pressure her to move quickly, and he admired her determination to do well in a male-dominated field. He admitted that had been initially rather shocked by her intelligence, but had managed to adjust to it easily enough. 

They'd been together for a little over a year when he told her that he wanted to marry her. The economy was booming, as it was 1927, and he even said that once she got her certification, he would be willing to be the spouse that didn't work. He insisted that a doctor was more important than a chemist, and that he'd be willing to stay and home and care for their children. 

She didn't want to refuse, but she hadn't quite told him all of the details about her relationship with Alfons yet... and she felt as if she should.

To her complete surprise, he understood.

He assured her that he didn't mind – he loved her, and what had happened with Alfons had been in the past. He told her that all he wanted from her was affection and loyalty, but past affections didn't matter to him... no matter what she'd done with other men.

 Wilhelmine accepted primarily because she was in love with him. Secondly because she was beginning to feel as if she was a burden on Sascha's parents. That wasn't to mention... she doubted that she'd find another man who not only understood her, but would be willing to let her work while he stayed at home.

They had their civil wedding on 20 February 1928, and had their ceremony four days later. Sascha Voß was, naturally, the maid of honour, and Rudi's younger brother, Fester, was the best man. It was, naturally, a very small ceremony, as neither of them had very much family left.

That night, Wilhelmine finished her move into Rudi's apartment.

Wilhelmine hadn't been with a man in almost five years, and she wasn't convinced that Rudi entirely knew what he was doing. She'd shrugged off how flustered he was, and attributed it to the fact that they'd been together for nearly two years, and they hadn't done anything close to this in that time. However, once their clothes were off, it was clear that this wasn't the only issue.

She decided to ask him outright if he'd ever been with a woman before. Her new husband blushed and stuttered that he hadn't, as such. So she sighed, kissed him, and guided his hand. 

It took some practise, but neither Wilhemine nor Rudi were in any position to complain. After all, it was fun, and they were in love. 

Their practise didn't come without any side-effects. Two years into their marriage – shortly after Wilhelmine had sat her first state exam – Wilhelmine started to feel a bit odd. Having been trained as a doctor, she knew very quickly what was going on, and she told her husband. 

Rudi, by this point employed as a chemist, was thrilled at the prospect of having children. He agreed that it was two years too soon, as Wilhelmine hadn't finished her practical experience, but he assured her that once the baby was able to be without her, he would stay home and take care of their child while she worked. 

They busied themselves preparing a nursery – at the tail end of 1929, the New York Stock Market had crashed, and, as America had been loaning Germany money... it had dealt a serious blow to the economy. However, no country was well-off financially at the moment, as the crash had affected nearly every nation's economy... and bread wasn't billions of marks for one loaf, either. They were a bit short on money, but Rudi had a good job, and Wilhelmine had still managed to have some of her inheritance saved away by the time she and Rudi married... part of which they used to furnish the nursery.

On 9 December 1930, Matthias Tritten was born. He had his mother's darker blonde hair, and his father's grey eyes. He was perfectly healthy, and both mother and son recovered in a reasonable time frame. Rudi helped to care for him, of course, and tended to spoil his son slightly. Wilhelmine was still the primary caretaker, as her son needed to nurse in order to eat. However, after eight months, Wilhelmine was able to return to her practical experience, and Rudi stayed at home with their son.

A little over two years later, Wilhelmine passed her second state exam and became a certified doctor. By this point, Matthias was old enough that the long hours wouldn't be that much of an issue. Still, despite the fact that Wilhelmine worked quite a bit, Matthias loved his mother, and she adored him.

It occurred to her, sometimes, that she could never have had this with Alfons. She might have been able to work, of course, but... she never would have been able to get married and have a son. Any son Alfons would have had would have been cared for by a nanny and a wet nurse, not his parents. The thought made her feel uneasy. She was never happy with Alfons's death – the boy had only been seventeen years old – but... she wondered what would have happened if he hadn't died. Would she have gone to the cinema with Rudi? Or would she have still been hoping against all reason for a chance with a count's son? 

Wilhelmine wasn't sure that she even wanted to know. She pushed those thought away as best as she could, and returned her focus to her husband and her son.

Rudi brushed a lock of hair out of her face, kissing her softly. “Helmine,” he murmured (oh how glad she was that he'd never tried to call her 'Wil' – Alfons's childish nickname for her still held too much weight), “are you okay?”

“I'm fine, Rudi, darling,” she assured him with a small smile. “I was just thinking that there might be a universe where we never even went to the cinema that first time...”

“Mm, well _that_ is a universe that I do not want to live in,” her husband remarked, picking up their son from where he was sitting on the floor. “A universe without _us_ , or Matthias... I don't know how I could stand it.” 

“I don't know, either,” Wilhelmine confessed. “But I am glad that I'm with you...”

Rudi shifted Matthias in his arms and moved to pull his wife close. “I love you so very much.”

“I love you, too, Rudi.” She kissed his cheek. 

Her husband smiled at her, and their son reached for his mother.

Wilhelmine took Matthias in her arms, a pleasantly warm feeling in her chest; at that moment, she was incredibly thankful for the way her life had turned out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rudi is, naturally, alter!Russell. But nicer.  
> and yes, that name is a pun on the fact that Rudolf Hess is the one who shot Alfons.
> 
> You can also find [Wilhelmine](https://charahub.com/character/120934/Wilhelmine-Raskoph) and [Rudi](https://charahub.com/character/120939/Rudi-Tritten) on charahub.
> 
> Wow, okay, this was really long, and took a while to write so I don't know how long until the next update. Still to go are: alter!Ed (Eduard), alter!Russell (Rudi), alter!Riza, alter!Havoc, and two alter!Roys. well. one actual alter!Roy, and his father, who is relevant to this 'verse.  
> If there's enough interest in this 'verse as it is I may expand this to include alter!Riza's parents and some of her and alter!Roy's friends. Maybe even my assimilated Jewish OC. If there's interest in this whole thing. We'll see.


	2. Wernher Muhlfeld (sort of Alternate Roy Mustang)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is about Wernher Muhlfeld, who, while he looks quite a bit like Roy, is not... _exactly_ alter!Roy.  
>  He appears in [Was fühl ich in mir?](http://archiveofourown.org/works/853224).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, Wernher appears in [Was fühl ich in mir?](http://archiveofourown.org/works/853224).
> 
> This chapter covers the 1890s-1923.
> 
> woo cultural notes.  
> -Gesundbrunnen is a locality in the Berlin district of Wedding; after the industrial revolution, Wedding was home to many factory workers who lived in tenements. Gesundbrunnen was a slightly better off district than Wedding proper.  
> -Lehel is an area of Munich on the river, near many museums and not too far from a number of theatres.  
> -Gymnasien are secondary schools focused on latin, greek, and the humanities (a "traditional" education)  
> -Ludwig Maximilians is a name of the University of Munich (it is literally "Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich")  
> -As opposed to like, America or England or France, I really don't know if there's any big "theatre city" in Germany, but Wernher mostly wanted to get far away from Gesundbrunnen, so. Munich works.  
> -Germany uses the [inquisitorial justice system](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisitorial_system), so charm wouldn't much help Wernher as a lawyer.  
> -Haidhausen in the 1890s was a district home to mostly the poor; it was an industrial district, with high population density.  
> - **money conversion!** one mark in 1896 comes out to _around_ $7 today. so. multiply all figures by 7 and you should be pretty close to what the actual prices are/were.  
>  -Reihenhaus (plural: Reihenhäuser) is the German term for a row house; this is very common in cities.  
> -Freiherr (feminine: Freifrau; daughter called Freiherrin or Freiin): German term for "baron".  
> -Altstadt is the centre city area of Munich.  
> -Isabel did a Bad Thing when she went to see Wernher after dark; honestly if anyone saw her this would absolutely _ruin_ her reputation. Victorian morals yay!

Wernher Muhlfeld considered himself easily the luckiest man in the world. Not because he'd managed to work his way up from being barely one step up from living in a tenement-house in one of the less savoury locales of Berlin to being a well-known and affluent stage actor living in a Reihenhaus in the Lehel borough of Munich. No, that he had earned due to his hard work and determination. He'd sweated and at times literally bled to become as affluent as he was now.

He was lucky because the incredibly beautiful Isabel Haeften had fallen in love with him, because her father had finally given his consent, and because twenty-four years later, they were celebrating their twenty-third year of marriage with their three  _lovely_  children, all of whom had survived into adulthood.

Many concluded upon meeting Wernher, now forty-four years of age, that he was just another rich man. They assumed ultra-conservative politics, no compassion for those who were unable to find work, and an air of kindness that would fade the second he discovered that he was speaking to an inferior. Nothing could really be farther from the truth.

He was rather politically apathetic, although when he did care, he tended to favour more liberal (although certainly not communist) politics. He was a philanthropist, and he was more than sympathetic to those who were having a hard time financially. Most of all, his air of kindness wasn't an air. He was genuinely a kind person, if not a bit ridiculous, with his idea of how a rich man  _should_  act.

Wernher had grown up in Gesundbrunnen, in Wedding. His family had been working class, to be sure, but they managed to avoid living in a tenement-house. Their apartment had been small, to be sure, and there had been almost no privacy between Wernher and his two brothers, as they had all shared one bedroom (thankfully, with three beds), but it wasn't a tenement. The building itself had been well-built and in decent shape, having been built long before the explosion of factories in north Berlin.

Wernher had done well in school, even managing to get into the local Gymnasium. However, around age fifteen, his focus had shifted to girls. In those days, Gymnasien were not co-educational (although he had heard of girls working especially hard to get into boys' Gymnasien, Realgymnasien, or Oberrealschulen, this hadn't been the case in his school). Some boys managed to get through the entirety of their secondary school careers without ever talking to a girl, but Wernher had not been among them. He certainly wasn't shy, and girls found him rather charming.

Of course, Wernher had known not to step out of his social boundaries – he had only ever flirted with middle class girls, and upper class girls were strictly off-limits. Instead, he had stuck to girls of his own social class – or lower. There had been some very pretty girls in the tenements who knew more things than he did, which, while embarrassing at times, had been certainly better than stumbling along awkwardly with some blushing virgin. 

He had been sixteen the first time he was...  _with_  a girl.

She had been slightly older – not yet seventeen, but close – and  _considerably_ more experienced. By this point, Wernher had done some  _other_  things, but the girl – her name was Annelies – had known that he was still (“technically!” he'd qualified) a virgin. She had given him a few pointers when he'd looked lost, and had let him spend the night, as her mother (her only parent) worked nights at a factory. Wedding wasn't exactly safe at night, anyway, and Wernher had been only sixteen.

Annelies would come to regret letting Wernher spend the night, but... for the time being, she had enjoyed cuddling up close to the boy. It had been all right – it could certainly have been worse – and unlike  _some_  boys, he had paid attention to what she'd wanted... but he was just that: a boy. She hadn't been able to picture anything  _serious_  with him, but it could be fun to mess around with him a few more times.

And they had – and it was that, including cuddling with her afterward, which had made Wernher think that maybe he was in love with her. He would later realise, even before he fell in love with Isabel, that he hadn't even been close with Annelies, but his sixteen-year-old self had had no idea that what he was feeling was merely infatuation, not love. 

Annelies had been taken aback (to say the least) when Wernher had arrived to her tenement-house after he had finished school for the day with a bouquet of flowers and a note professing his love. She had insisted that he didn't mean it – he was just confused. Wernher had been hurt, almost heartbroken, and he had asked how she felt about him. She had told him that she liked him well enough – he was simply  _gorgeous_  – but he was a boy; someone to waste time with.

This had only crushed the boy further, and he had mumbled an apology for embarrassing her. She had kissed him and told him that it was quite all right, and that he could come upstairs if he promised not to do anything ridiculous again. 

He had accepted, of course, and ended up spending the night again and worrying his own mother sick.

He had eventually stopped seeing Annelies. Wedding proper wasn't the safest neighbourhood, after all, and there had been girls closer to him who were interested. He'd realised after a few more tries with Annelies that, while he certainly had  _liked_  her, there had been no way that he could love her the way that his father loved his mother. 

Wernher had fooled around with a variety of girls (he wasn't that particular about looks; they just had to be pretty and willing, as he'd never pressure a girl to do anything that she didn't want, but he did want to have sex with pretty girls), which had continued until he finished Gymnasium and sat his Abitur. By that point, he had already decided that he wanted to be an actor... but first, he had to get out of Gesundbrunnen.

Dating pretty girls could be expensive, and Wernher (rightfully so) hadn't wanted to put any more strain on his parents' resources. So he had done what any sensible boy who wanted to date a lot of pretty girls did: he had worked odd jobs for money. 

One girl he had dated – somewhat seriously; they had both known that it wasn't going anywhere real, but they had been interested enough in the other to have an actual relationship – insisted that he take her to see some new play one weekend, which he had.

Before that night, Wernher had never had any real idea of what he wanted to do with his life. He had figured that he was smart enough to go to college, maybe try to become a lawyer or something fairly useful so that he could maintain a steady income and get out of Gesundbrunnen. However, once he had seen the actors onstage, he had been enchanted. He had always loved stories, and had play-acted them with his brothers and the other children in his building as a child, and he had greatly enjoyed that, but he had never given acting much thought.

Seeing these men and women onstage... it had seemed so  _amazing_. He had been watching a story come to life before his very eyes, and he had been able to feel the emotions that these actors were meant to be portraying. The seats, the lights, the sets, the costumes...  _everything_  had fed into how phenomenal the experience was.

After the play, Wernher had been unable to speak of anything else. His girlfriend had laughed and teased him, but Wernher had been convinced: he wanted to be an actor.

Of course, there had been the small matter of not having even play-acted for six or seven years, but Wernher had looked into local community theatres and tried his hand.

He was a natural. It all came very easily to him; he was able to accurately portray the emotions he was meant to, and convince everyone that he  _was_  the person whom he was playing. Taking direction had been nothing that he hadn't been used to – he was the middle son, and he had worked multiple jobs before. Even notes and criticism were things that he could easily handle. 

Still, despite his natural talent, he had worked very hard to improve. He had taken every note to heart and paid mind to every single criticism. He had spent more of his spending money on plays and less on dates. By his eighteenth birthday, Wernher had been in his first play, and had only been  _more_  convinced that this was what he was meant to do.

The choice had been natural, but his parents had still wanted him to get a proper education. He loved both of his parents, but he had felt that perhaps he might not be able to both act and study at the same time while living with them in Gesundbrunnen and sharing a room with his two brothers, the elder of whom already made jokes at his expense. 

He wasn't sure what had drawn him to Munich. Berlin had just as many theatres, and Munich was much more expensive. But the reputation of Ludwig Maximilians had been enough to convince his parents to let him go away for school. They had made it clear that they would only be able to send him, at the  _very_  most, fifteen marks a month, which would not cover even a small room in Munich. Wernher had promised them that he would do odd jobs for a room, and, reluctantly, they let him go.

He was to study political science; he had figured that, due to his charm, politics would be a better business for him than law... not that he had ever had any real intention of becoming anything but an actor.

He had gone down to Munich a few weeks before classes started, intent on finding a place to stay. He'd saved up his money all summer (and disappointed a few girls in the process, but this was a bit more important), and had, by this point just short of two hundred and fifty marks, which he'd figured ought to be enough for rent for a room for a few months.

However, Munich was  _very_  expensive, and he had wanted to have his money stretch as far as he could manage, so the most affordable place he'd been able to find was a room rented off of an older woman who had lived in a Reihenhaus in Haidhausen. She had said that she often rented to students, and the room had come furnished with a small bed, a wardrobe, and a desk. The house had had one interior bathroom, which everyone living there (there had been six other boarders at the moment) had shared. The rent had been an even thirty marks a month, which had not included food but had included access to the kitchen and room in the ice box.

Wernher had known that he'd be hard-pressed to find another deal like this in Munich of all cities, so he'd taken it, and paid for all of October through February in advance. He hadn't wanted to get too far ahead of himself – after all, he could have ended up  _hating_  Munich, and he hadn't wanted to have paid for a room for months where he might not even be there.

As it turned out, he loved Munich. He hadn't liked spending too much time in Haidhausen, preferring instead to spend his free time across the river in the centre of the city. He had done fairly well in his classes, and had managed to juggle school, work (he wanted to  _save_  money, after all), and plays with only a moderate level of difficulty. In one of his classes, he had met a young man by the name of Klaus Brandt.

Klaus was fairly tall, standing at around six feet, and had not yet grown into himself. He was lanky and had a rather awkward physicality; this was not helped by his smattering of freckles or unruly reddish-brown hair which he tried desperately to slick back. His glasses only served to obscure his bright blue eyes. But Klaus was kind and intelligent – the young man was studying law – and he was more than willing to show Wernher around the city.

He had explained that his grandfather had been from Posen, in Prussia, and had moved to Munich to practise law. His son – Klaus's father – had met a girl from the countryside who had been visiting the city, and the two had been married a little over a year later. Klaus had come along a little more than two years later, and he had been their only child. Still, despite his Prussian roots, Klaus had only ever lived in Munich, and knew it better than most of its inhabitants.

Klaus and Wernher had become rather fast friends, despite their differences. Klaus did have an admiration for the arts (but no considerable skill, he'd added), but he rather preferred opera over theatre. Still, he had offered to see his friend's plays, and had been rather astounded when he had. Wernher had shaken his head modestly and murmured a quiet thanks for the praise.

In December, Klaus had wanted to know what Wernher was doing for Christmas. Wernher had replied that, naturally, he was visiting his parents, although he would only be in Berlin for about a week. Klaus had grinned and asked Wernher if he wanted to go to a New Year's Eve party. “My fiancée will be there,” he had added as incentive. He had gone on endlessly about this gorgeous fiancée of his, and he had known that Wernher had wanted to meet her.

Wernher had hesitated. New Year's Eve parties always sounded like a great deal of fun, but... Wernher had been sure that he didn't have anything to wear. He might have been able to have enough money to get a suit made, but not in enough time. He had asked Klaus to wait a bit, as he wasn't entirely sure that he'd be free New Year's Eve.

Klaus had nodded and agreed to wait – but he asked Wernher to tell him before he left for Berlin. Wernher had agreed, of course, and then had gone on a rather mad search for a decent suit. He'd managed to find one from the theatre where he was currently working – the suit had not been for his part, but it had fit him well enough, even though it had been a few years old. The stage manager had agreed to let him take the suit out for New Year's – but he'd have to return it on the third. Wernher had agreed readily and made arrangements to pick it up before he left for his parents' house.

He'd told Klaus that he could come, the next day at lunch in Altstadt – at which point Klaus, clearly rather nervous, had informed his friend that he had to tell him something. Wernher had nodded and waited patiently. Klaus had stumbled a bit, but had managed to get out that he was actually a Junker, and his proper name was Freiherr Klaus von Brandt.

Wernher had started, certainly not expecting  _that_. “Um...” he'd mumbled. “Look, uh, Klaus, I... understand if you... don't wish to be friends any longer...” He'd rubbed the back of his neck, distinctly uncomfortable.

Klaus had  _laughed_  and told Wernher that he was being ridiculous. He had gone on to say that he didn't care about Wernher's social standing – a poor boy from Gesundbrunnen – if Wernher didn't care about his; that had been the entire  _point_  of his trying pass for middle class, after all. “I merely thought that I should tell you, as this party... well, it will be very extravagant.”

Wernher had nodded dumbly, still not quite able to grasp the fact that his friend was a Junker – and not just a knight, but someone with actual  _rank_. They had parted on good terms, and Wernher had gone home for Christmas, thrilled to see his parents again, and regaling his brothers with some raunchier tales of Munich.

Almost too soon, it had been time to return to the Bavarian city; Wernher had made sure that he would have enough time to go home and get some sleep and some food before having to get ready for the party. He had kissed his mother farewell and boarded his train. 

The party had been much more extravagant than Wernher had anticipated, but Klaus had been there, positively thrilled to introduce his friend to his admittedly  _stunning_  fiancée, Amelie Quistorp. He hadn't been quite sure how Klaus had won such a beautiful girl over... until she had opened her mouth. She had been superficial and much too sure of herself for Wernher's tastes. He had had no trouble believing that this girl had studied at the boys' Gymnasium, as he had imagined she would have been outright offended by the curriculum at any girls' school. She had seemed to have a certain fondness for Klaus... although Wernher had been fairly certain that her spiel about how she would have loathed attending university was a front. Klaus had said that the girl was practically a genius; Wernher had found that she was almost a satire of the typical rich beauty.

The night could have been worse, all in all, and Wernher had returned the suit without any trouble. He had avoiding taking one of those girls home, as he didn't want to think about what might've happened if they were caught. Instead, he stuck with girls from the poorer areas of Munich – girls who were of his own social class, and often just as – if not more – experienced than he.

Klaus had asked him in February if he wouldn't mind being the best man at the wedding – Amelie's parents would pay for the suit, of course, as the bride's parents funded the wedding. Wernher had agreed hesitantly – he did like Klaus, and found him great company, but he hadn't been so sure about attending a wedding filled with so many affluent people, especially after Klaus had said that it was going to be at his mother's family's estate south of the city. 

As it had turned out, being Klaus's best man would come to be the most important thing he would ever do. After all, it was there that he met his future wife.

Isabel Haeften had been easily one of the most beautiful girls that Wernher had ever seen – what was more, the girl had refused to tightlace. Wernher had rarely been able to bring himself to sleep with a girl who tightlaced her corset, and Fräulein Haeften had been absolutely stunning on top of that. She had had beautiful white-blonde hair, pale blue eyes, and porcelain skin. What's more, she had been so _incredibly_ sweet and naïve. He had been enchanted. Still, while he had flirted with her, he had known better than to make an outright move; her father was some important business associate of the bride's father, and they lived in Altstadt.

But that night, Isabel had come to his room to give him her calling card, and she'd kissed him. That had, really, been the beginning of the end, looking back. That night, they had had sex – although, naturally, Wernher had made sure that she knew what she was getting into beforehand – and, as she cuddled up close to him, she had told him that she loved him. He had been completely unsure of how to proceed – he had known that he hadn't _loved_ her, of course, but with her position, he had known that he would not have been able to just turn her down – so he'd promised to call on her when they all got back to Munich. 

And he had. It had gone about as well as he'd expected (which is to say not very well at all), although the terrifying Herr Haeften had agreed to allow Wernher to see Isabel, but only under supervision, and only in daylight. However, that hadn't stopped Isabel from sneaking over to Haidhausen and waiting for Wernher in his room the next night.

It wasn't long before Wernher had been completely head-over-heels in love with this girl. He had been unable to pin it down on just one aspect of her, or one event – it had happened so slowly that he hadn't even noticed. Of course, he had never been  _put off_ by her... but, at the same time, he had often doubted that he'd ever get married. Still, once he had realised that he loved Isabel, he had known that he had to do something drastic. There was no way that, in his current position, he would have been able to marry her for another few years at _least_ (and that was counting on a sizeable dowry _and_ on Klaus allowing them to use his family's estate for the honeymoon). He hadn't wanted to cause any sort of scandal, and so he was left at an impasse.

When Klaus had come back from vacation, he had offered to help. He had arranged some high paying jobs, and Wernher had literally worked himself sick during the semester break. He had managed, through the jobs arranged by Klaus, to get some... less reputable, but higher paying odd jobs. He had taken the following semester off to work, and by March, he had earned enough money to buy himself a luxe apartment in a newly renovated building in Altstadt.

His apartment had had nine rooms not including the kitchen – a music room, a smaller parlour, a large private bathroom, a large master bedroom with a dressing room, a study, two smaller bedrooms, and a dining room. There was even access through a lockable stairwell to a servants' apartment upstairs, which Wernher had also purchased. Klaus had helped him to select servants (a cook, a valet, a parlour maid, and a housemaid), and after everything was set up, Wernher had invited Herr Haeften and Isabel over.

Herr Haeften had been impressed, and within the week, Wernher and Isabel were engaged. Isabel had been _thrilled_ to say the least, and Wernher had helped her to find a private ladies' maid to help her dress and ready for the day.

Of course, there was the small issue of their faiths. Wernher, being from Berlin, was a Protestant, specifically, he was Lutheran. Isabel, on the other hand, had come from a long-standing Bavarian family, and, as such, was Catholic. Wernher hadn't wanted to change his faith just so that Herr Haeften would approve of their marriage, but at the same time... he had wanted to marry Isabel.

It was a long and exhausting discussion, but Herr Haeften and Wernher had come to an agreement: Wernher could keep his faith, but any children were to be raised Catholic, and (and this was the point that had taken so long), Wernher would also attend Saturday night mass with his wife and her father. Knowing that he couldn't have been able to reach a better agreement (and not particularly caring much if his children were to be Catholic or Protestant), Wernher had agreed, and the wedding was planned.

Wernher's parents and brothers had come down from Berlin, staying in the two spare bedrooms, and had all positively adored Isabel. Herr Haeften had not seemed impressed with Wernher's family, but Isabel had been charmed by his parents, and had wanted to know everything about Wernher's childhood, much to her fiancé's embarrassment. 

On 24 May 1900, Wernher and Isabel filed for a civil wedding, having their church wedding the next day. It was a somewhat lavish affair, planned by Isabel's father, and Wernher had wanted something a bit... _more_ , but Isabel was positively _thrilled_ with the event. Her father had paid for it all, after all, as was custom, so Wernher had no room to complain... especially since Isabel had been more than eager to see her new husband to bed. 

They had honeymooned in Paris, which had cost Wernher quite a bit, and had only lasted for six weeks, as opposed to the more favourable two or three months. Isabel had understood, of course, and relished in every minute of their time in the city.

She had adapted quite well to her role as lady, and functional head, of the house, as Wernher had still tended to spend a lot of time working to try to save up money so that he could buy at least a Reihenhaus (or an apartment with more bedrooms) when they had children. In that time he had also managed to make a decent name for himself on the stage. The man was clearly talented, and with his new money, he (and Isabel) had been able to go to more parties with the von Brandts, and thus Wernher had been able to socialise more. He had been rather surprised to meet playwrights, directors, and many people involved in the opera, who often had other connections (Wernher wasn't tone deaf, but he certainly wasn't of opera caliber). This one or another had agreed to see his most recent play, and he had gotten more and more offers from better and better theatres.

In October 1900, Isabel had sat Wernher down and told him that, since she'd been feeling ill, she'd had a doctor come to the house. The doctor had said that Isabel was most likely with child, and that he would be back the following month. 

Wernher had not been able to remember ever being happier before that moment. He had hugged his wife and kissed her, murmuring to her how much he loved her.

On 17 May 1901, their first daughter, Juliana Carina, was born. Five months later, the family had moved into a Reihenhaus in Lehel, which had been much more luxurious than the Reihenhaus where Wernher had first lived in Munich. It hadn't been terribly long before Isabel was pregnant again; this time she gave birth to a son, who they had named Rolf Valentin, in honour of their fathers, on Christmas Day 1903. Their last child, a daughter named Felicie Regine, was born on 29 July, 1906. 

After Felicie was born, Isabel had declared that she wanted to try to avoid having more children, and instructed her husband to be more careful. Wernher had obliged, and they had managed to avoid getting pregnant again. After all, Wernher had already been father to three children, and godfather to Klaus's two children, Wilhelm (born in February 1900) and Elisabeth (born in August 1904). 

Wernher was a doting father who adored his children, and from an early age, Rolf and Elisabeth had been practically inseparable. All four parents found this adorable, but Freifrau Amelie von Brandt had warned her husband _and_ Wernher that they were not to try to push their children together – and she specified that this went for Wilhelm and Juliana as well.

In 1908, when Rolf had been four, the mother of the boy who was supposed to play Wernher's son in a play had had to move to Hamburg with her husband's job, and the play had been left without a son. One of his cast mates had suggested that Wernher bring in his own son, and, after discussing this with his wife, that is just what he did.

The little boy had taken direction easily, and this would turn out to be only the beginning of his very long stage career, which ended formally in 1978.

After this, Juliana had decided that she wanted to be an actress, so Wernher had paid for lessons for her and for Rolf... but Juliana had turned out to have no real talent for the craft. Wernher had been very sorry, but it had turned out the Juli had been just as happy with getting new books to read and new dolls to dress up. Felicie had shown talent from an early age, but she had adamantly refused to be onstage. Not due to any stage fright, but simply because she did not want to have to listen to direction and memorise lines.

However, despite their respective inaptitude and disinterest in stage acting, Juliana and Felicie had certainly _never_ _been_ ignored or brushed off in favour of their brother, and Wernher had made sure to spend extra time with his daughters to make up for the time he spent in the theatre with his son. 

All was well in the Muhlfeld household for a while; Wernher adored every member of his family, he was a well-known and well-liked actor, the household had an excess of servants, everyone in the household was healthy... but then war had broken out. 

Isabel had been adamant: Wernher was to do whatever he could to get out of fighting or she would leave him. He had known, of course, that this was just a desperate ploy to try to keep him safe, and that his wife would never _leave_ him, but still... he had enough connections (most of these unsavoury) to manage to get out of the war in exchange for performing in plays for certain government officials in Berlin. Wernher was a pacifist, anyway, and so he had been selfishly glad for the opportunity to avoid war without being persecuted.

During the duration of the war, Wernher had rented an apartment in Tiergarten, which had enough rooms for some servants and his family when they came to visit. However, his children had still been attending school in Munich, and so they had only been able to visit. Wernher had been kept largely out of harm's way, but he had not seen very much of his family during the war, either. He'd managed to earn a few week-or-so-long breaks, during which time he, naturally, had gone to Munich to spend time with his wife and children. 

Klaus von Brandt had not been nearly so lucky. He hadn't gone to military school, but he was a Junker and had made a point to receive top-notch military training once the war started. He had managed to obtain the rank of second lieutenant before being shipped off to France. Wernher had prayed every night for his best friend's safety, and he had made a point to check in on Freifrau von Brandt and the children every time he had been in Munich. 

He had been performing in a play when his parents had received word that his elder brother, Sigismund, had died on the front. Wernher had known that something was wrong the second he arrived home to see find his mother sobbing in front of his apartment door. His younger brother, Magnus, was in France as well, but as far as they knew, he was safe. (Magnus would survive the war, but be diagnosed with shell shock and be largely unable to function properly for the rest of his life). Wernher had held his mother as she'd sobbed, and he had cried as well. Although he and Sigismund had been drastically different, and they had made a point to annoy one another... Wernher had still loved his brother very much (he had, in his younger years, looked up to Sigis, who was three years his senior), and had been heartbroken to hear that the man had died. 

The war had ended after what seemed like an eternity, only to have a flu pandemic hit Europe. Although no one had yet realised that it was influenza, Amelie von Brandt had, at the outbreak of the pandemic, invited Isabel and her children to stay with her at Klaus's parents' estate in the country. She had known, at least, that it had been some sort of pandemic that she did not want her children around. This had been an offer that Isabel readily took the other woman up on, after sending her husband a telegram and letting him know.

Wernher had been, naturally, more than okay with this. He had wanted his family to stay as safe as possible... and Lehel had been much more densely populated than the area around Klaus's family's estate. Wernher himself had done his best to get out of Berlin and had managed to arrive at the von Brandts' estate in mid-June. 

Amelie had hired a private tutor so that the children could finish their education for the year. She had been terribly worried for Wilhelm, who had still been required to work at an army hospital just outside of Munich.

The two families had waited out the epidemic all the way through the summer, and through the second, even more deadly second wave in the fall. Both children and adults had been bored out of their minds – the library tended to be the most frequented room, and Wernher and Isabel had ended up spending a great deal of time in their bedroom.

The war ended in November, and Wilhelm – miraculously healthy, had made his way to the estate. A week before Christmas, Klaus von Brandt, promoted to captain during the war, had showed up at the estate as well. There was another, less deadly, wave of the influenza, but by mid-March, everyone had felt safe enough to return to the city. Wernher had been freed of any obligations by the fall of the Kaiserreich, and so he had returned home to Lehel with his wife and three children. 

He'd sent a telegram to Gesundbrunnen to inform his parents that he was safe, and to inquire about their wellbeing and of Magnus. He had heard back less than a week later: his parents were safe, and Magnus had come home physically unharmed.

Wernher had been immensely grateful and had made a point to attend mass four times a week with his wife (as she had already been wont to do), as his Lutheran church only held services on Sunday. This habit had lasted for the better part of four months. It had not in any way changed his stance as a Lutheran, but... going to mass with his wife had felt more comfortable than praying alone in his study.

It had not, however, escaped his notice that his son had become quite infatuated with Elisabeth von Brandt. Elisabeth was, quite frankly, very beautiful. She was slender and willowy where her mother had been rather curvaceous, with a heart shaped face and light freckles across the bridge of her nose. She had her mother's big brown eyes, although her hair did have a more reddish hue to it, as Klaus had. Wernher had often noticed his son's gaze falling to the girl's lips as she talked, and he had encouraged the boy to ask Freiherr von Brandt if he could see her.

Rolf had blushed, furiously embarrassed, but his embarrassment had subsided when his father had informed him that he rather thought Elisabeth had eyes for him, as well. Rolf's giant, ridiculous grin had been the only confirmation that Wernher needed.

His son had asked Klaus for permission, which the baron had readily given. Klaus adored Rolf nearly as much as his own son, and he hadn't missed the looks that Elisabeth had been giving the boy, either.

Nearly two years later, Rolf and Elisabeth had become engaged. All four of their parents – and all three of their siblings – had been thrilled with the match. The couple had elected to wait a while for their wedding. After all, Elisabeth had been a few months short of seventeen, and neither had finished Gymnasium yet.

By the time of Rolf and Elisabeth's engagement had been announced, Germany's economy had already begun to sink. Wernher had had most of his money put into gold at the beginning of the war – which had turned out to be a very wise investment, as hyperinflation had begun by 1918. Wernher had already completely paid for his home by that point, and he was still the owner of his old apartment in Altstadt, where Rolf had moved once he'd sat his Abitur.

Rolf hadn't been the only one of Wernher's children getting engaged – Felicie had met a young man from Dachau who had moved to the city to become an actor. Or, rather, Rolf had met the young man, Johan Habicht, on set, the two had become fast friends, and when Rolf invited Johan to his family's house for dinner, Felicie had been utterly unable to take her eyes off of him. The feeling was, clearly, mutual from the start.

Wernher couldn't complain; Johan was a good kid. He wasn't very intellectual and he hadn't had much money at all, but he was kind and he clearly adored Felicie, who he treated like a queen, which was all that Wernher had really wanted for his daughter. Felicie had been with some less than savoury men, and she had had her heart broken before (at which point Wernher had utterly ruined the young man who had done it). Wernher could certainly help Johan and Felicie out if they needed money once they were married. Besides, Felicie and Johan were clearly madly in love... and as Johan treated Felicie the way she should be treated, Wernher absolutely could not bring himself to get in the way of their relationship... but he did warn Johan that if he hurt Felicie, Wernher would completely ruin his reputation and make it so he wouldn't be able to act in _any_ city in Germany. 

Fortunately, it appeared as though Wernher would never have to follow through with that threat. Johan treated Felicie like a queen, and, as expected, Rolf acted much the same way with Elisabeth. It was difficult to watch his children grow up and get married, but he reasoned with himself that he still had Juliana. 

Juli was intelligent and driven – much like Wernher himself, even though her passions laid elsewhere. Juliana had attended the girls' Gymnasium, and had sat her Abitur with good enough marks to get into Ludwig Maximilians. 

Wernher supposed that his children growing up wasn't all bad. After all, he'd have much more time to spend with his wife, _and_ his children getting married meant grandchildren, for which Wernher was very excited. Isabel was a bit more hesitant, but she was happy just the same.

When he was growing up in Gesundbrunnen, Wernher never would have guessed that his life would have turned out this way: he had a stable career, a large amount of wealth, a Reihenhaus which he _owned_ in Lehel, the most beautiful wife in the world, and three amazing children, two of whom were close to starting families of their own. It was so wonderful that sometimes Wernher couldn't even believe it himself.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can read a more in-detail version of Wernher meeting Amelie [here](http://frauleinamelie.tumblr.com/post/27933633206/first-encounter-with-wernher-muhlfeld), and a more in-detail version of Wernher meeting _Isabel_[here](http://helle-writes.livejournal.com/1383.html). [And here's Wernher meeting Isabel's father](http://helle-writes.livejournal.com/1555.html).  
> [The apartment in Altstadt](http://helles-sims.tumblr.com/post/41152662144/rolfs-apartment-building-again-today-i-furnished).
> 
>  
> 
> My stabs at German Victorian (or I guess mid-Kaiserreich) morals are rooted primarily in the play Frühlingserwachen or Spring Awakening, by Frank Wedekind. Read the original. It's pretty much a dark comedy (some say satire, but whatevs). _Do not watch the musical._ The musical is a piece of shit that pisses all over the actual point of the original text and completely subverts the message. Honest to god, if I could burn it from existence, you bet your fucking ass I would.  
>  No, honestly, it takes "I did something I was told not to so I got hit across the face for it" to "my dad beats the shit out of me and sexually abuses me every night", and "hey you're hot i'm gonna fuck you even though you're saying no" (so. rape.) to "WOW i love you so much you love me let's have hot consensual sex!!", and "oh my god my life is awful i have no future only one person doesn't hate me i'm gonna kill myself" to "I'm fucking awesome but i failed a grade so hahaha fuck it i'm gonna kill myself", and "god that is no son of mine he spat in the face of god"/"he must've HATED his parents" to "omg poor Moritz!!!!!"  
> So yeah, it's shit. Don't bother with it and read the original. Wedekind was a cool dude. The morons who bastardised his play are not.  
> (It kind of sucks because the songs are good and catchy but yeah they shat all over the original)
> 
> Research re: Berlin based heavily upon _Die Mietskaserne_ by Ernst Erich Noth, although obviously adjusted for time and locale (Noth was born in Mariendorf, which in the 1890s was not part of Berlin, and Wernher is from Gesundbrunnen in Wedding, which is part of central Berlin).  
>  Noth was insanely interesting and if you can't read German or get ahold of a translation (I've only been able to find one at a library), I'd honestly recommend the film _Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken_ (english title is Love In Thoughts) starring the _adorable_ Daniel Brühl* as Noth (given name Paul Krantz) and also featuring the wildly talented August Diehl and the beautiful Anna Maria Mühe who is honest to god my headcanon in looks for Wernher's wife, Isabel. It's available subtitled on iTunes US.  
>  (It's funny though because Noth looked _much_ more like Diehl than Brühl but I think Brühl is more suited for his character type)  
>  Of course, _Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken_ is about only one small aspect of Noth's life when his _entire_ early life was so interesting. No, seriously. He barely escaped Nazi Germany (he was a communist) and then lived in the French underground and he _wrote a satire about Hitler and Goebbels **while they were still alive**_.
> 
>  
> 
> *Brühl is a fabulous actor but I don't think _Was nützt die Liebe in Gedanken_ shows off his acting skills that much. He was also phenomenal in _Joyeux Noël_ (French/English/German), _Good Bye Lenin!_ (German), _Inglourious Basterds_ (US work, so subtitled), _Ladies in Lavender_ (English with subtitled German, and he managed to keep up a Polish accent in a non-native language convincingly throughout the entire film even though he is not remotely Polish which is impressive) and _Eva_ (spanish-language)  
>  Eva especially was amazing and heartbreaking.
> 
> Diehl's acting skills are shown off in literally every movie he's done. But you can't do _that much_ with a character like Krantz in the period of the film, even though Brühl did do a fantastic job.
> 
> ...I'll shut up about German actors now.


	3. Rolf Muhfeld (properly Alternate Roy Mustang)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rolf appears in Was fühl ich in mir?.
> 
> This chapter covers 1903-
> 
>  **woo cultural notes.**  
>  -Gesundbrunnen is a locality in the Berlin district of Wedding; after the industrial revolution, Wedding was home to many factory workers who lived in tenements. Gesundbrunnen was a slightly better off district than Wedding proper.  
> -Lehel is an area of Munich on the river, near many museums and not too far from a number of theatres.  
> -Gymasien are secondary schools focused on latin, greek, and the humanities (a "traditional" education)  
> -Ludwig Maximilians is a name of the University of Munich (it is literally "Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich")  
> -Reihenhaus (plural: Reihenhäuser) is the German term for a row house; this is very common in cities.  
> -Freiherr (feminine: Freifrau; daughter called Freiherrin or Freiin): German term for "baron".  
> -Altstadt is the centre city area of Munich.  
> -Gymnasium, again, is German secondary education.  
> -Tiergarten is an affluent borough of Berlin  
> -The flu that broke out was, of course, the Spanish Influenza  
> -Kissing before an engagement was not socially acceptable until a bit later, and Elisabeth's father had grown up in the 1880s/90s, so.  
> -Premarital sex was especially not a thing good girls did. But Elisabeth... isn't exactly a good girl. She just acts like it when she knows she has to.  
> -No seriously condoms existed back then. They just. Weren't as fancy.  
> -It is traditional for the bride's parents to pay for the wedding, and for the groom and/or his family to provide the honeymoon  
> -Propaganda plays were seriously a thing that existed.
> 
> Also I didn't know how to fit it in but Rolf moves to West Berlin in the late 50s/early 60s.

In his day, Rolf Muhlfeld was fairly liberal. He wasn't egalitarian – of course not – but unlike many in Munich, he didn't really mind what (non harmful, of course) business people got up to if it didn't concern him. He supposed that his father was even _more_ liberal, but that was only natural, as the man had been born and raised in a working class neighbourhood in northern Berlin. Rolf, on the other hand, had been born on Christmas Day, 1903, in the Lehel borough of Munich to Wernher and Isabel Muhlfeld (née Haeften). As per his maternal grandfather's terms, Rolf and his two sisters, Juliana and Felicie, were raised Catholic, like their mother. Rolf didn't mind, of course, because this meant that he got to spend more time with Elisabeth von Brandt, his best friend.

From an early age, Rolf loved the theatre. He had his first acting job at age four. From that point, it had been simple. It had never really occurred to Rolf that he might do something else; from the time he was four, he had known that he wanted to be an actor, and before that, he hadn't had the faintest idea of what to do with his life, which was only natural for a four year old. He had the means to act for the rest of his life, and he had the talent as well. There was really no other option.

He did, of course, value his education. He got into one of the most prestigious Gymnasien in Munich, while his sisters and Elisabeth went to a girls' Gymnasium, as secondary education was then still not coeducational. By that point he had, fortunately, been able to bear prolonged separation from his best friend a bit better, although he still raced to her school after his classes let out to meet her at the gate. Elisabeth always waited for him, but he couldn't say the same of his sisters. It was probably better that way; he usually tended to stay a few hours at Elisabeth's house.

However, his years in Gymnasium were not merely marked by school work. The summer before his first year at the secondary school, the Archduke of Austria-Hungary was shot, and war broke out. He remembered his father anxiously making phone calls, and his mother telling them that it would be all right; Father would be safe in Germany. It had turned out that Rolf's father had had to move to Berlin for the duration of the war. Rolf and his sisters had been very sorry to see their father go, but he promised to visit, and he assured Felicie that they could all come visit him if they didn't have school. It was difficult, but Rolf knew that it was a great deal better than what Elisabeth's father had to do.

Freiherr von Brandt sent himself to military school after the war broke out, and left for France with a rank of second lieutenant. Rolf had begged and pleaded with both of their mothers to spend that first night with Elisabeth. They were only ten, so nothing happened. He merely held her tight as she tried to fall asleep, knowing that she might never see her father again.

Rolf focused on his school work during the war, with a few plays on the side, to distract himself. He visited his father in Tiergarten, and kept Elisabeth company. She went to mass every day after class, and he made sure to accompany her. Her family – and Rolf's father, as well – still received letters from Freiherr von Brandt, which Rolf knew were a great reassurance to Elisabeth and her family. Still, he went with his best friend to mass, and he prayed alongside her for her father's safe return. Neither of them really cared much for Germany's victory after the war had been raging for a few months – and he suspected that this was true of most people – but they still made a big show of how much they wanted Germany to win. Mostly, everyone just wanted the war to end.

However, in the spring, a flu pandemic broke out. Both his and Elisabeth's mothers had been terrified, and Freifrau von Brandt invited the Muhlfelds to stay with her and Elisabeth at their country estate. Rolf's mother happily took the other woman up on the offer, and the two families arrived at the estate in early June, with a private tutor finishing up the children's lessons for the school year.

Rolf's father arrived at the estate in mid-June, much to Isabel's delight. The two retired early that night to their room, for some reason unknown to Rolf at the time. The epidemic lasted through the summer, and an even deadlier wave hit in the fall, which prevented Rolf, Juliana, Felicie, and Elisabeth from returning to their schools. By this point, the children were only dismayed; everyone in the house was bored out of their minds, and they had hoped that school could serve as some sort of a distraction. Rolf's parents were often nowhere to be found, and everyone spent a considerable amount of time in the library.

When the war did end, it seemed far too long and at far too great a cost. Many in Munich, especially, felt as though they'd been stabbed in the back with the Allied victory. Rolf didn't care. It was over, and his father was alive. Elisabeth's brother, Wilhelm, came to the estate in November, perhaps surprisingly healthy. A week before Christmas, her father returned with only a small scar from where a bullet grazed his arm.

There was yet another wave of influenza, but by mid-March, everyone felt safe enough, and stir crazy enough, to return to the city. As the Kaiserreich had ended, both Rolf's father and Elisabeth's father were freed of any civil or military responsibility, and were able to stay in Munich with their families.

However, there was still one small matter. Rolf couldn't figure out just when it had happened, but at some point, Elisabeth had ceased to remain merely his pretty best friend, and had morphed into some incredibly beautiful young woman. He tried to shake these feelings, of course. Elisabeth was his best friend, even if she was stunning, and beautiful in just the right way. He knew that he shouldn't have focused on how adorable the freckles that were spattered on the bridge of her nose looked, or how beautiful and shiny her long, honey-blonde hair was... he knew that he _certainly_ shouldn't have focused on how slender and willowy she was, or how full and pink her lips were...

He should have known that his father would notice. The man was smart, and had experienced much more of life than Rolf had. He knew the signs. He could tell that Rolf had quite the crush on Elisabeth, and urged his son to ask her father after her. Rolf wasn't sure that he'd ever blushed more furiously before in his life. His father had repressed a laugh and informed the boy that he rather thought that Elisabeth had eyes for him, as well. Rolf couldn't hide the ridiculous grin and the incredulous “Really?” before his father noticed.

So it was decided. Rolf hesitantly asked to speak to Elisabeth's father. The man had had some inkling right away as to why Rolf had asked to speak with him, and he hadn't given the boy much of a chance to beat around the bush. He was fond of the boy – who was, after all, his godson – and thought that he would be a very good match for his daughter. Certainly, Rolf had been raised to have respect for women, and Elisabeth clearly adored him... and it didn't hurt that Rolf's family was wealthy, or that Klaus had known Rolf since he was an infant. His permission was readily given, and Rolf was left with the task of asking Elisabeth herself.

He had been terrified enough to ask Freiherr von Brandt... but Elisabeth herself? He put it off for as long as he possibly could – which was only a little over a week, although it felt much longer – until he finally got the nerve to ask her. He'd been incredibly nervous, and he wasn't entirely sure that she could understand, but she'd positively _beamed_. “I'd love it if you would take me out!” she'd exclaimed.

Rolf had been incredulous, but thrilled nonetheless. Their relationship had been a bit awkward at first – they were making the transition from friends to being in a relationship, after all – but neither of them could be happier with the match. It took over six months for them to have a proper first kiss – it was awkward enough the first time that he kissed her on the cheek – but he was sure that he wouldn't have had it happen any other way.

He was working on a play, but he made a point to walk her home every day. This time, they went through the alley and into the backyard. They were discussing his play when they stopped by her back door. The conversation lulled, and Elisabeth grabbed his hand. “Rolf?”

“Hm?”

She bit her lower lip, and dropped her eyes briefly to her shoes before meeting his gaze again. “I love you.”

Rolf beamed, resisting the urge to hug her tightly. “I love you too,” he said, grinning like an idiot. “Of course.”

Elisabeth beamed as well, and leaned in to kiss him. Rolf, naturally, kissed her back. Even though it had taken over six months to get to this point, Rolf couldn't believe it. He lost himself in the kiss... that is, until he heard Freiherr von Brandt's voice ordering him to stop kissing Elisabeth. His girlfriend's father was clearly displeased with the situation at hand, and informed both of them curtly that he didn't want to see that again until they were engaged. Rolf had been horribly embarrassed, of course.

And yet he and Elisabeth had kissed several more times before their engagement. They became engaged in May of 1921, after dating for a little over two years. It felt to Rolf like much too long, but Elisabeth wouldn't even turn seventeen until that August, and becoming engaged much sooner would have been socially unacceptable. Still, this was a great relief, as they were now free to kiss and cuddle even in front of their parents (although then only in moderation, of course). In private, Elisabeth was more than eager to kiss Rolf, although this took some time to get to even the point of necking.

They had been engaged for about a year and a half the first time that things went beyond kissing. It started innocently enough; Elisabeth had asked to go back to his apartment for some hot chocolate, and Rolf, although hesitant, had obliged. It was the first time that she'd been in his apartment unchaperoned, and to tell the truth, he felt rather nervous, although for the life of him he couldn't figure out why. It wasn't as if he and Elisabeth had never been alone together before. His hands shook slightly as he handed her her hot chocolate in his parlour. She smiled politely and put the hot chocolate down on the table. Rolf was confused. “Is something wrong?” he asked. His fiancée shook her head and asked him to put his hot chocolate down on the table as well. Still confused, he obliged, and Elisabeth kissed him. This was considerably more passionate than their other kisses; it registered to Rolf that Elisabeth's tongue was in his mouth. He couldn't help but kiss her back, and it was only when her lips left his and began making their way down his neck that he pulled away.

Elisabeth had been furiously disappointed, and Rolf had awkwardly explained to her why he'd stopped; necking could _very_ easily escalate into something that was completely unacceptable for a woman of her standing... something that should wait until her wedding night. Elisabeth, however, refused to accept that for an answer, and urged her fiancé to tell her, in detail, just what that thing was. She'd pouted, and she knew very well that Rolf could never refuse her when she pouted.

So he told her. He told her everything that he knew – everything that his father had told him, and everything that he'd heard from his friends – and he assured her that if it hurt her, she should tell him and he'd stop right away. “I love you so much. I would _never_ want to hurt you, no matter what,” he promised her.

...Apparently that had been something of a mistake, because Elisabeth got it in her head that they should “practise”. She badgered him with seemingly innocent questions (and he knew her well enough to know that she had ulterior motives), and pouted until his morals gave way and he led her to the bedroom. He asked her repeatedly – five, ten, fifteen times – if she was _sure_ , if she was okay, if he was hurting her. He tried some things that his father had told him about, and Elisabeth herself gave him some pointers when it came to what to do with his hands. She assured him that he wasn't hurting her, and cuddled up to him after, tracing abstract shapes on his chest. He'd, thankfully, remembered to pull out, but he informed his fiancée that such things were not going to become a regular occurrence.

He'd been wrong. So he did what any sensible young man would do; he had a very close and trustworthy friend buy him some condoms and kept them in his bedside table. He took other precautions, too, of course, and Elisabeth trusted him to keep her from getting pregnant and causing a scandal. Besides... he had to admit that it was much more fun than taking care of such things by himself.

Almost a year before he lost his virginity, his younger sister, Felicie, got engaged to one of his best friends, Johan Habicht. Rolf was sure that Johan expected him to be unhappy with the match – after all, Johan was a working class boy whose parents owned a country store in Dachau – but it was really quite the opposite. To say that Felicie was reckless and irresponsible would be a massive understatement, and Rolf was merely pleased that his younger sister was engaged to be married to such a nice guy. It didn't hurt, certainly, that Felicie adored Johan, or that she was his entire reason for trying to save some amount of money in the depression. They were in love, and Rolf and Elisabeth both were happy for them.

In July of 1923, Rolf sat his Abitur and passed with very good marks. In the fall, he enrolled at Ludwig Maximilians to study literature. This was at his mother's request; his father had only wanted Rolf to sit and pass his Abitur. However, Rolf loved literature – reading was one of his favourite hobbies, and he and Elisabeth would often discuss what they'd read – and didn't see the harm in pursuing a degree in it. He made sure that he would still have time to act, of course, and tried to divide his time so that he'd have a bit more time to spend with Elisabeth than he had while he was in Gymnasium.

In June of 1924, Rolf was best man in Felicie and Johan's wedding. As Rolf and Felicie's father had done all of the planning, the ceremony was at the extravagant St Peterskirche. Even Rolf felt uncomfortable in the grandeur, and he couldn't imagine how nervous Johan was before he saw Felicie. Herr Muhlfeld had also rented out one of the most extravagant ballrooms in Altstadt. Rolf spent the entire reception feeling glad that Freifrau von Brandt would never let her husband be so ridiculous when it came to _their_ daughter's wedding.

Fortunately, he had been right. He and Elisabeth were married on 18 September 1924, in their families' church. It was nice, of course, and elegant, but it was nowhere near as extravagant or ostentatious as Felicie and Johan's wedding had been. He took the following semester off of university so that they could take two and a half months for their honeymoon. However, as public opinion of Germans outside of Germany was still less than savoury, they spent two weeks in Salzburg, and three weeks in Vienna, and the remainder of this time at her family's estate in the country. Elisabeth had only been slightly disappointed, as she hadn't been to Paris in years, but she'd understood. She'd been the one to press for Salzburg as opposed to Berlin – Austria was more culturally similar to Bavaria, and she wasn't quite sure that she wanted to experience the debauchery of Berlin on her honeymoon. Rolf had obliged, of course, and they set off the afternoon after their wedding.

Elisabeth had wanted to spend their first night as a married couple in their apartment, and Rolf certainly had no complaints about this. The reception was held in a ballroom that was located on the second and third floors of his building. At the end of the night, they'd merely rode upstairs in the elevator and gone straight to his bedroom. It had been especially nice to wake up next to each other. It had been even _nicer_ to engage in certain activities in the morning.

Their honeymoon was lovely, but most of their time was spent in their room. It was no secret why. Rolf and Elisabeth had discussed children before their marriage, and Elisabeth had decided that she'd be perfectly happy if she happened to get pregnant at any point after their wedding. After they were married, Rolf merely asked for confirmation, and when he received it, he didn't bother trying to be safe. After all, if Elisabeth got pregnant now, no one would say anything. It would be perfectly acceptable, and they wouldn't be asked any uncomfortable questions.

They returned home a week and a half before Christmas, only to find that Felicie had miscarried. Rolf had never known his younger sister to be fond of children, and so he wasn't shocked that she was not very upset by this. He was certain that it had been accidental, as everyone who knew Johan at all knew that he wanted little more than to have a family of his own. As to be expected, Johan was much more upset than Felicie was, and Rolf felt slightly guilty that he'd been off enjoying his honeymoon while his friend was going through a tough time.

Three weeks after Christmas, he and Elisabeth became an uncle and aunt when Elisabeth's sister-in-law gave birth to a baby boy, Maximilian. Seeing his wife with the baby assured him more than anything that he wanted a family with her... and in the fall of 1926, he received the most wonderful news: Elisabeth was going to have a baby.

He set to work. He hired someone to redecorate the biggest of their spare rooms into a nursery, complete with all the commodities that a baby could need. He asked Elisabeth if she wanted to hire a nanny or wet nurse – and was only mildly surprised when she said no. Elisabeth's mother, on the other hand, was furious and tried to talk sense into her daughter. However, this was to no avail. Elisabeth's father had sighed and informed his wife that it was up to Elisabeth whether she wanted a wet nurse or not, and reminded her that they had never had a nanny for either of their children. Freifrau von Brandt's irritation with her daughter's decision didn't last long, however, as she was mostly pleased at the news that she was to have a new grandchild. Maximilian was doing well, but both Freiherr and Freifrau von Brandt hoped for a granddaughter, as well.

Rolf's parents were merely thrilled that they were going to be grandparents. His mother was paranoid, after what had happened with Felicie, and his father warned him about how a pregnant woman could get. However, it turned out that both of their concerns were unneeded. Elisabeth was no more demanding than she normally was – although she did have weird cravings, and there were periods when all she wanted to do was have sex – and the baby, a girl, was born alive and well on 29 May 1927. They named her Aleida Isabel, and she was incredibly spoiled by both parents.

Rolf had taken the summer semester off that year, and so when he returned for the winter semester, it was his final one. He sat his exams and, again, passed with very good marks. He earned his bachelor's degree, and then promptly began acting full-time, although he did make sure to spend some time with his friends and parents and sisters, and he put aside a large chunk of time every day to spend with his wife and daughter.

The late 1920s in Germany were a period of economic prosperity, but Rolf, having taken note from his father, had his excess money in gold. This turned out to be a very smart move, as the American stock market crashed in October of 1929 and dragged the entire world's economy along with it. Theatre attendance was affected, of course, but he still had enough patrons to continue to act. His entire family – including his sister and brother-in-law – were largely unaffected by such things. Johan's only concern was that their adopted daughter, Corinna, would likely be growing up in a similar political climate that he had... which no one wanted, but about which little could be done.

Although Elisabeth was considerably more conservative than Rolf, neither of them were anything close to reactionary. Their official stances were apolitical, although Elisabeth supported many of the same policies that former nobility often backed. Neither of them were fond of the Nazi party. Rolf had had a run in with one of their riots in November 1923, and, although he had been unharmed, from that point he had tried to stay as far away from them as he could.

Unfortunately, the 1933 elections made this quite impossible. He understood how people could believe Hitler, but Rolf remembered their early policies – policies that had made one of his wife's friends run away from home because she had felt that her father was threatening her boyfriend for no good reason – and as such, always made a point to vote against that party.

Nazi policy promoted German families, and so Rolf and Elisabeth felt it their own private form of rebellion to take up being safe when they had sex again. Condoms were harder to come by, but he could still pull out, which he always did. It was considerably less fun than they'd remembered, but better this than have any more children of theirs grow up in such a climate.

And yet they had apparently not been careful enough. Elisabeth discovered that she was pregnant again in early 1935, and on 28 August of that year, their son, Nicklaus Wernher, was born. Nicklaus was spoiled, of course, as his mother had always wanted a son. In addition, Aleida was now eight years old, and she loved to spoil her little brother as well.

Another blow came in December 1936 when enrolment in the Hitler Youth and the League of German Maidens became mandatory. However, Aleida was old enough, and had grown up with Jewish friends, that she recognised that there was something wrong with the people in power asserting that Jewish Germans were not German at all. Her parents told her that she needed to act like she believed the Party – because otherwise, terrible things could happen to all of them. Aleida had inherited her father's acting skill, and so this wasn't as difficult as it might have been for some children.

The entire situation was completely terrifying, and Rolf began contemplating how to get his loved ones out of the country with the low limits that other nations were beginning to put on the number of allowed legal German immigrants. He was faced with the uncomfortable truth: he and his family were all German, and all Christian. Johan's former communist stance had been abandoned when he'd been given permission to marry Felicie. None of them were in any immediate danger... and the best thing that they could do was to keep their heads down.

This is exactly what they did. Rolf talked with a family of former communists who lived downstairs – the Schröters. Robert Schröter, the father, had been a communist as late as 1933. He'd experienced the Nazi wrath firsthand, and so, in order to protect his family, had told his two sons what had happened and enrolled them in the local Hitler Youth club as soon as he'd gotten out. Rolf knew Robert through a common acquaintance – a Jewish lawyer by the name of Nico Maier who had married one of Elisabeth's friends – and the two men were on decent terms, despite their different political stances. Robert's boys were twins – Daniel and Gerhard – and three years older than Aleida. Rolf asked Robert if he wouldn't mind asking his sons to look out for Aleida, as he was worried about what might happen when she had to go on camping trips, especially when the local Hitler Youth club often accompanied the League of German Maidens. Robert had assured the man that his daughter would be looked after – Daniel, especially, had developed an intense hatred for Nazi ideology after what had happened to his father – and Rolf left, feeling slightly better about the situation.

In 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Elisabeth had cried. No one with any sense wanted another war, but it would be stupid to assume that nothing would come of the invasion. Rolf remembered the last war. His father had been lucky. Elisabeth's father had been lucky. He was terrified that he might be called to fight himself. Sure enough, war was declared not long after the invasion. Rolf remembered running to the bathroom to vomit when he'd heard the announcement.

However, it turned out that Rolf wouldn't have to worry about fighting – he and Johan both were approached to serve the Reich by acting. Rolf was a pacifist and a coward; he wasn't ashamed to admit that. He was also constantly concerned for his family's safety. So it was only natural that he accepted, and he pushed Johan to accept the offer as well, for Felicie and Corinna. Johan had been incredibly hesitant to say the least – he disagreed with the Nazi Party on just about every level – but he'd eventually seen the sense and agreed. Neither of them were proud of their actions, but they did what they had to do to keep their families safe.

In 1942, Aleida began seeing Daniel Schröter. The boy was due to leave for Paris toward the end of the 1943, and before he left, he nervously asked to speak to Rolf. The older man had some idea what this was about... and he'd been right. Daniel was nineteen, 6'1” and muscular. Rolf knew from his daughter that the boy detested the Nazi party, even though with his dark blonde hair, blue eyes, and athletic build, he was their idea of a “perfect” man. What mattered to Rolf, though, was that the young man treated his daughter well – which he did.

Daniel was terribly nervous. He wrung his hands repeatedly, to the point where Rolf ended up pouring some brandy and shoved a glass into the boy's hands to stop him from doing that. Daniel stuttered out how beautiful he found Aleida, and how intelligent and kind she was. Rolf allowed the boy to stumble a bit before cutting to the chase: “Now, why did you want to speak with me?” he asked. Daniel flushed bright red and mumbled something incoherent. Rolf asked him to repeat himself, and when Daniel did so, Rolf's suspicions were confirmed: Daniel wanted to marry Aleida.

“I can't in good conscience tell you no,” Rolf began. “But I can tell you that you're not marrying her until this war is over and you are no longer in danger of dying on the front lines. I don't care how much safer Paris is supposed to be – it's still war.”

Daniel blinked, nodded, and asked Rolf to confirm that he had his permission to propose to Aleida. Rolf nodded, and said that he couldn't deny his daughter anything... but promised that if Daniel ever hurt her or was unfaithful to her, there would be complete and utter hell to pay. Daniel paled, but promised that he would never _ever_ be unfaithful or hurt Aleida, in any way. And so Rolf gave his permission for Daniel to propose, which he did, much to Aleida's delight. She squealed and hugged him tightly, kissing his cheek and promising that they'd get married the day after the war ended.

Daniel left for Paris that fall, and wrote Aleida every day.

The war was in full swing, and Munich was rather frequently being bombed. Elisabeth wanted to move out to the country estate, where her parents, sister-in-law, and youngest nephew had taken refuge, but refused to leave Rolf, who had to stay in Munich and continue to act, or else he would be putting not only himself, but the entire family in great danger.

So they sat it out.

The German army retreated from Leningrad. The Americans and Brits stormed Normandy. A few old acquaintances of Elisabeth's brother and father were killed after an attempt to assassinate Hitler and end the war. Rolf wished that they'd only been successful. The Soviets were advancing quickly. It was clear that Germany wouldn't win. Rolf didn't care. He only hoped that the Americans would capture Munich.

In an attempt to keep his family safe, he made Elisabeth take Nicklaus and Aleida to the estate in early 1945. They would be safe from bombing there, and Wilhelm, who had recently been discharged due to an inability to fight, as he'd lost his left leg below the knee, and Freiherr von Brandt were both there with an impressive display of vintage and antique guns if Allied soldiers tried anything on the women.

It took until late February to convince her to go, but she had. It was a tearful goodbye, and Aleida had to pull her mother away from her father in order to catch the train. Rolf had promised to write, and waited in the depot until he could no longer see the train.

At the end of April, after two agonising months without his wife or children, Munich was captured by Americans. Rolf, who had taken English in Gymnasium, managed to gain clearance to go to the estate, after making sure that the apartment was securely locked, and asking Johan, as well as the servants, to keep an eye on it. As he boarded the train, he heard the incredible news that Hitler was dead. He wasn't sure whether or not to believe it.

When he arrived at the estate, he found that they were feeding American troops. Elisabeth had rushed over to her husband when she saw him, telling him how very much she loved him. She told him that she had to speak with him once he'd greeted the children, which he did. Elisabeth looked terribly nervous, and had smiled slightly. “We really didn't try to be careful those last few nights in Munich, did we?”

Rolf couldn't believe what she was saying. His wife confirmed that she was, in fact, expecting another child. It was almost laughable. His wife was forty – almost forty-one – years old. He'd expected Aleida to start having children fairly soon, now that Munich had been taken. But it was true.

On 8 May 1945, the Allies accepted Germany's unconditional surrender. Daniel arrived back in Munich in June, and Maximilian came home in July. On 13 November 1945, Elisabeth gave birth to another little girl, who they named Meike Amelie. Special attention was paid to Elisabeth, as it was very dangerous for a woman her age to give birth, but she recovered and managed to return to her full duties in not much more time than it took her the first two times. Rolf spoiled this little girl perhaps even more than his other two children. After all, Meike wasn't going to grow up in an economic depression or a totalitarian dictatorship. After what happened with the Weimar Republic, he was sure that everyone would make sure of that. He wasn't sure that anyone in Germany in 1945 still liked Hitler. The man had been responsible for too many deaths – and while some Germans could write off those who died in camps, they could not write off those who died pointlessly in Leningrad or Stalingrad.

Rolf made it through, along with his family, and thankfully managed to avoid losing any loved ones. He continued to act until 1978, when he'd decided that 70 years was a good run. He retired on his 75th birthday and spent the rest of his time with his wife, children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Johan is alter-Havoc. 
> 
> [Rolf's apartment in Altstadt](http://helles-sims.tumblr.com/post/41152662144/rolfs-apartment-building-again-today-i-furnished) (Rolf's is the fourth floor and the biggest apartment).
> 
> If you're curious, [here's](http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/travelogues/323583d1270551503-old-travelogue-germany-2006-004-peterskirche-munich.jpg) what the interior of St Peterskirche looks like.
> 
>  
> 
> [here's Rolf on CharaHub](https://charahub.com/character/72482/Rolf-Muhlfeld)
> 
>  
> 
> and i wrote some stuff.  
> [Rolf having a run in with the Nazi party](http://certainlydapper.tumblr.com/post/27518743360/he-had-known-that-there-were-riots-of-course-the) & [the morning after that](http://misselisabethvonbrandt.tumblr.com/post/28956804911/drabble-not-really-but-its-something) & [Johan giving Rolf pointers](http://certainlydapper.tumblr.com/post/28926450537/drabble) & []() & [Rolf and Elisabeth's first morning as a married couple](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N7rWdSMV2YqvKtMrHgsWGcsztr4IWW68Pqt9Waio0UU/edit).

**Author's Note:**

> I marked this as complete (8/2017) because I doubt I'll come back to it, and there's no real overarching plot to prevent me from marking it as incomplete.


End file.
